Everybody is telling you to use Facebook to promote your villas. They say that’s where people hang out nowadays, and you’ll want to be part of the conversations. But how exactly does Facebook help your villa rental business? What can you do with it? At Villa Finder, we use Facebook as one of the channels to promote the villas. Here are our top tips to get started:
1. Know your audience
You can’t target the whole world. While there were over 5 million people coming to Bali in 2018, not everyone is your target audience. There are backpackers, schoolies, etc. and a villa stay may not be what they are looking for. You need to speak to that someone who will enjoy the villa the right way, probably the same way you feel when you build it. For example, are you a passionate yogi so you have a yoga bale at the villa? Or do you enjoy riding the waves, so you build a villa close to a surf spot and always have surfboards readily available? Find clients who will appreciate such features. The best thing is, Facebook allows you to reach them easily.
2. Define your goals
There are plenty of things you can do with Facebook:
- Gain more awareness and reach new audiences
- Engage with your potential clients
- Drive traffic to your website
- Bring requests to your villa
We handle Facebook accounts for our Full Distribution villas. We do see clients sending messages to inquire about the villas, so this is one of the channels to generate requests and bookings :).
3. Don’t buy untargeted followers
Getting to 10,000 followers quickly at an affordable price is tempting, but the number does not mean much if the people you get are not the right ones. Soon, you will see your engagement rate plummet, and your messages are falling on deaf ears. Here are a few ways you can find high-quality followers:
- Run targeted campaigns: Clearly define your audience, their age group, location and interest. They are harder to get than unsolicitedly hitting on anyone who comes your way, but they are the ones who stay.
- Run a giveaway with bloggers and magazines that have the same audience as yours. Then, you can make a condition that to be eligible for the competition, one must follow your account.
4. Plan your content
Having the right target in mind will help you map out a content strategy. What kind of questions they will have about your villa? How you can provide more value to your followers? If there are frequently asked questions, arranged them in such a way they are easy to access. If you follow specific themes (surfing, for example), be sure to tap on this area of interest to connect with your audience. Share with them your tips, favourite surf spots, etc. Check out how this vacation rental in Paris shares plenty of images and relevant articles with followers.
5. Invest in images
Having good pictures is very important for your Facebook page. Dark, blurry images don’t entice people to stay. Luckily, you can take pretty decent photos with a smartphone. You can also invite photographers, influencers who have the skill to stay at your villa for a few nights in low season. In exchange, they will provide photos for your marketing usage. That’s a cost-efficient way to get high-quality images for your villa.
Related: 9 Common Mistakes Bali Villa Owners Make and How You Can Avoid Them
6. Set aside a budget to boost your post
You don’t reach a lot of people without putting a marketing budget on your content. Sadly, a Facebook post only reaches about 5% of your followers organically. You have to boost them to reach the people you want to reach.
7. Encourage people to message you
More often than not, people don’t book a villa the immediate moment they see it. They will have questions about availability, services, price, and many more. Most of the time, your potential villa clients will want to speak to someone, and once they do, it’s more likely that they’ll book the villa. So encourage your followers to message you. Make it easy for them to find the “send message” button, and make sure to have a fast response rate!
8. Have a complete “About” page
If people are interested in your villa, they will want to find out more about it. It’s important for you to have your About page set up. You don’t need tons of information, but you need to get a few things complete: the description, link to your website, a brief history. If you want, write about how you start, what inspires the villa, your location and contact information.
I hope that this article helps you get started with Facebook marketing for your villa. If you need our help, check out Villa Finder’s Distribution Solution or simply drop me a line. All the best!
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